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IT’S STARTING: Florida ‘Doesn’t Have Enough Doctors’…

TALLAHASSEE Brace yourself for longer lines at the doctor’s office.

Whether you’re employed and insured, elderly and on Medicare, or poor
and covered by Medicaid, the Florida Medical Association says there’s a
growing shortage of doctors — especially specialists — available to
provide you with medical care.

And if the Florida Legislature goes along with Gov. Rick Scott’s
recommendation to offer Medicaid coverage to an additional 1 million
Floridians — part of the Affordable Care Act that takes effect next
January — the FMA says that shortage will only get worse.

“Florida needs more doctors and it needs more nurses, and it needs
them working together in teams,” said Rebecca O’Hara, a lobbyist for the
FMA.

About 15 million Floridians have health insurance today, and
Obamacare, which requires most adults to have coverage by January, could
add as many as 2.5 million more. One million would come through a
potential expansion of the federal-state Medicaid program that Scott
announced this week he was backing. The others would be the result of
new mandates requiring employers and individuals to have insurance or be
fined.Read More Here